The Crown's Entrapment

Along with the storm and the deluge of water seemingly pummeling them from out of nowhere, Darius clicked his tongue when the ground beneath them shifted once more. As if the current danger wasn't enough for them, the very environment seemed dead set to try and kill them where they stood.

"Darius?!" he called out to the fake, hoping that the guardian had something up his sleeve to somehow save them all from this madness.

"W-What the hell are you doing?!" the fake only shouted aloud, running hot on their heels as he glared at him. "A-Aren't you supposed to be a guardian?!"

"I-I have no control as to what other guardians do in their territory!" Darius yelled out, his hand still firmly holding onto Xen as he argued. "What matters now is that we survive, lest we all die here without even putting up a fight!"

Just as he said that the ground shook once more. This time, fissures formed between the cracks, slabs of solid rock forming right underneath their feet as they all shot right up into the air.

"W-WOOAAHH!!"

"Hold on!"

Thankful for his quick thinking, Darius held onto Xen as they began hurtling towards the ground. The ground rapidly approached them from right underneath them, and his knees screamed as he forced his body to absorb the blow of gravity.

"N-Ngh..."

"Are you alright?!" Xen worriedly asked.

"Just... We'll get through this," Darius breathed out, grim determination coming out from his tone. "There's no way we'll die here."

Looking at his two companions, Darius's eyes lingered the longest on Xen's seemingly fragile form. She was shivering from the sudden downpour, which only made him more determined as he hugged her closer in his arms.

Meanwhile, the fake was looking at him with fury in his eyes. He would've smirked at getting one up from the guardian, but the situation right now took precedence as the environment around them seemed to shift even further.

The ground seemed to rumble once more, and with it, the storm intensified as forks of lightning began streaking across the clouds. With thunder above and earthquakes below, there didn't seem to be anywhere they could escape to.

"And just how do you think we'll do that?" Devas asked behind them, the fake surely on the verge of panic with the way his voice was shaking.

"By doing our very best," Darius scoffed. "With my magic seemingly unable to save us, we'll have to rely more on our wits to see this one through."

In his arms, Xen only nodded as she remained suspiciously quiet throughout all of this. Beyond the one scream of surprise, she seemed to be content to let both him and the fake battle it out with words. She seemed pensive, her brows in a perpetual frown as she stared at them both.

[Quite an unfortunate time to notice that now,] Zeus scoffed. [If you don't remember, we still have a disaster on our hands.]

True enough, the environment around them didn't seem to let up as it only intensified in defiance of their survival. The rock beneath them split with a thunderclap, the ground leaving massive chasms for them to traverse along with all of the mounting problems that never seemed to end.

"That's a long drop..."

Darius couldn't help but hold his breath upon seeing the network of death cliffs dotting the landscape around them. With the storm's winds picking up alongside its torrential rains, the faint sounds of the raging rapids echoed out from one of the nearby fissures. Surely, falling into one of them was a guaranteed death trap with the raging waters ripping them to shreds, and that was if sheer drop wouldn't kill them outright.

"Then all the more reason not to drop Xenia while you're carrying her!" Devas called out. "And why are you even carrying her anyway?! If anything, I should be the one to-"

*KRAKATHOOM!*

Before Darius could even retort, a bolt of lightning struck right in between him and the fake. The burst of light threatened to blind him, and the force of the bolt along with the constant rumbling beneath them finally made him slip his footing. His eyes wide, he knew that he was well on his way to falling into one of the many fissures forming around them as they speak.

'No! I can't drag Xen down with me!'

Thinking quickly, Darius threw Xen's body right at the fake, forcing down his envy before he focused his attention on somehow holding onto slippery rock and debris. His fingers clawed onto a solid rock, his feet dangling on the edge of the drop as rain and wind threatened to make him fall.

"No!!!" Xen screamed while staring at him.

"Go! The ground's getting more unstable the longer you stay here!" Darius called out, his hopes growing dimmer the more cracks appeared around them. "Leave me!"

"I won't!!!"

To his surprise, Xen was practically holding onto his arms, her nails digging into his flesh as she did her best to hold onto his wet skin. His hopelessness turned to fear. Fear turning into anger as he saw the fake pulling at Xen to leave him to his death.

"We have to go!" Devas yelled out in desperation. "He's done! If his magic can't save him, then what more do we have!?"

"Listen to him!" Darius seconded, his teeth grinding against one another as he shouted at Xen. "I'm done for! Just leave me!"

"No!" Xen screamed and Darius could see tears falling down her cheeks just in time for another fissure to form between him and the two as Darius watched the fake drag his wife with him. There was no way for them to reach him now. He was firmly stuck alone with a veritable maze of chasms preventing any form of rescue.

[It's been a good run, I suppose,] Zeus sighed.

"Indeed," he sighed. "But at least Xen will live to see another day."

[And you're okay with that?]

Darius felt his grip slipping as he let out a small sigh. Looking up at the raging skies above, he let out a chuckle as he nodded. "She's alive. That's more than her being here dead with me."

With his last breath, his fingers finally slipped, the feeling of weightlessness taking him as his body fell into the blackest depths behind him. Closing his eyes, Darius could only hope that his Xen would find fulfillment despite his loss-

"Darius!"

His eyes opened wide, his gaze turning skyward. That voice...

"I won't let it end like this!"

A blazing white light erupted from above, the sky seemingly opening up to reveal a set of radiant white wings descending from above. The creature was as beautiful as it radiated power, her hair fluttering against the howling winds as she reached out to grab him.

His eyes squinted against the rain, recognition filling his chest as he shouted out in disbelief. "Xen?!"